JOHN HORD: piano
WITH GUEST SPEAKER DR MICHAEL KUNZ (Ecologist)





This event is part of ClimateKeys, a glocal initiative launching with over thirty concerts in nine countries during October & November 2017 to raise public engagement with CoP23, the 2017 UN climate talks taking place in November. ClimateKeys, founded by London-based composer pianist Lola Perrin, features concert pianists and climate change experts collaborating in performances that include a conversation with the audience about positive response to climate change. To date, over a hundred concert musicians and guest speakers in twenty countries have joined ClimateKeys. More concerts are being planned through 2018.



12 November 2017 at 2.30pm
Visalia, California



150 years ago, environmental pilgrim John Muir first walked through the Sierra Nevada. The beauty of mountains and groves compelled Muir to assert that they were “God’s first temples.” Today, climate change poses an existential threat to these same mountain temples.
Muir’s writings powerfully shaped our national environmental conscience. He noted that “most people are on the world, not in it – have no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them – undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate.” This belief in independence from nature and from each other has led to our environmental crisis. Contemporary scientific and spiritual insights affirm Muir’s wisdom; they reveal the connections that bind together natural ecosystems and human flourishing. They also point us toward planetary solutions and to a richer, fuller life. (Michael Kunz)



St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

120 N. Hall

Visalia

CA 93277

Admission Free

A free-will offering will be gathered at the event





“ClimateKeys provides opportunities to address two issues important to me. One is the rapid change to our environment. Much of this change is life-changing and some aspects are life-threatening. It is necessary to convince a large percentage of our population that these changes are real and that science provides the factual truth. Science and scientists are to be supported and celebrated. ​The second issue is the need for performers to have the courage to allow concert locations, formats, and repertoire to evolve. This is an example of living within the present and emulating the constant change that is life. Music and environmental science is to be shared by all. The continuing education of music and environmental science for our citizens must be provided by performers and lecturers. ClimateKeys supports both of these issues and I am happy to be a part of this effort.” (JOHN HORD – PIANIST)


Programme

Composers from a wide variety of countries will be performed


JOHN S. HORD is active as a performer and an educator. His performances have occurred throughout the United States and many foreign countries. Mr. Hord was member of the Music faculty at Fresno City College between 1990 and 2015. In May 2015 he retired from twenty-five years of service having helped educate more than five thousand students. Mr. Hord is a performing member of the American Liszt Society, the National Society of Arts and Letters. In addition to works for solo piano, he takes great joy in performing art songs, chamber music and works for duo-piano. In July of 2006, Mr. Hord had the honor of performing “Nine Bagatelles” by the Pulitzer prize-winning composer William Bolcom in Los Angeles. Mr. Hord is a member of the Music Teachers’ Association of California. He has on two occasions served as President of the Fresno County Branch and served four years as State Chairman of Continuing Education. He is a life member of the international music fraternity Phi Mu Alpha, Sinfonia. In 2014 he served on the board for Alliance Française de Fresno as Program Chair


MICHAEL KUNZ is Professor of Biology & Environmental Science at Fresno Pacific University, where he instructs courses in ecology, field botany, environmental studies, and the history & philosophy of science. He was raised in the San Joaquin Valley and received his doctorate in Ecology from the University of California at Davis.